Voodoo Manufacturing’s growth continues with the announcement that it has received $1.4 million in funding from investment company KPCB Edge, which specializes in seed stage companies in emerging technological fields, with help from various angels including entrepreneur David Karp, founder and CEO of Tumblr. In addition, Voodoo has joined startup investment firm Y Combinator’s Winter 2017 batch. Since 2005, Y Combinator has funded over 1,000 startups, including Reddit, Airbnb, Dropbox, Twitch and more, for a combined valuation of over $65 billion.

“There is so much potential and room for innovation in 3D printing today,” said Karp. “You can already see this tech showing up in whole new applications, unlocking businesses and growth that simply weren’t possible before. It’s clear there will be far reaching implications for manufacturers, creators, consumers, brands, retailers, and inventors. I’m incredibly excited to be joining the Voodoo team and the work they’re doing here.”

Voodoo Manufacturing’s 3D printer farm (left) can compete with 1-million-machine data centers such as the one on the right.

With the additional funding, Voodoo Manufacturing will be expanding its factory to 2,000 square feet and adding 50 3D printers, as well as doubling its team to total 18 members.

Max Friefeld

“The funding is mostly about investing in scaling the factory more efficiently,” Max Friefeld, Co-Founder and CEO of Voodoo Manufacturing, told 3DPrint.com. “With 160 machines, we are the largest 3D printing factory in the world, we have more machines than Materialise. Even though ours are cheaper, the logistical problems are more complex. We have been growing quickly enough that we need to start investing in scaling up to 1000, or even 10,000 machines. This would be impossible without a strong software driven factory, augmented by other automation tools like robotics.”

Voodoo Manufacturing’s specialty is small-batch production of plastic parts, from hardware components to unique branded and promotional items – as one example, the company 3D printed 100 limited edition velociraptors to celebrate the 2015 release of Jurassic World. (One customer emailed Voodoo Manufacturing to inform them that his 3D printed velociraptor is one of his most prized possessions.) Other customized and promotional items have included keychains, action figures, and even a unique event invitation that functions as both a puzzle and a pen holder.

According to Friefeld, the demand for such items is what has surprised him the most since he and his co-founders Jonathan Schwartz, Oliver Ortlieb and Patrick Deem launched Voodoo Manufacturing in 2015.

Voodoo Manufacturing Co-Founder and CPO Jonathan Schwartz speaks at Inside 3D Printing New York in April 2016. [Image: Sarah Goehrke for 3DPrint.com]

“There is a huge demand for custom marketing materials and promotional items. We really hit a pain point here,” he told us. “People want things they can connect with, and by definition, people don’t connect with mass-manufactured goods from China anymore. We work with a lot of marketing agencies and promotional products distributors to bring new ideas to life. We are giving these incredibly creative, but non-technical people access to a fully-custom manufacturing solution. We’re making a lot of really cool things!”

Voodoo Manufacturing, which saw Friefeld named to Forbes’ 2016 30 Under 30 list last year, has now completed its seed round of funding and has a lot planned for the upcoming year. The company’s goal, it says, is to do for hardware what Amazon Web Services did for software, by reducing the cost of 3D printed parts by over 90% and make 3D printing the fastest method of manufacturing for 100,000-plus unit runs. In 2016 alone, Voodoo Manufacturing collaborated with major organizations including Lowe’s and e-NABLE, as well as Autodesk, Syfy and others, on over 500 projects. We can’t wait to see what it has in store for 2017.

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